Bright sparks light the way to success

Sep 17 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

Around £7m has been earmarked to help North East technology companies develop new products and processes by working with some of the country's brightest young minds. Peter McCusker reports.

James began working with TrackaPhone in September last year and his research will form the thesis for his Masters degree.

Phil Derry, chief executive of the North Tyneside-based company said: “The trial that we have carried out with James is at the very basic level, and working with researchers at Northumbria University has given us a great opportunity to test the feasibility of a potential new market and enable us to share knowledge across the business and academic sectors.”

Stanley Vickers, of Middlesbrough, has similarly benefited. Sara Zarei is currently doing a computing-related PhD with Teesside University and during her placement at Stanley Vickers she instigated a system upgrade which has led to savings of almost £30,000 for the company. And University of Sunderland MSc Science Graduate Anthony Ofoegbu, 31, has been working with TWP Packaging in Gateshead. He was instrumental in setting up the new Material Requirement Planning system and within a few weeks it had saved the company over £250,000.

ONE has allocated in excess of £5m for the NESt and the individual universities have all agreed to provide at least one third match-funding.

Students undertake work placements in regional businesses aligned to ONE’s Three Pillars Strategy, namely: Health Sciences and Healthcare, Energy and Process Technologies.

ONE highlights four primary beneficiaries in the NESt programme

Regional businesses benefit from the provision of academic expertise to solve particular problems, develop new opportunities and support the acquisition of higher level skills.

Students. The financial support given allows them to concentrate on their studies.

The universities benefit from the direct recruitment of more high-quality postgraduates and research capacities are increased from the networks formed with regional businesses.

The region and its economy benefit as the project attracts graduates to the North East.

The ONE spokesman added: “These projects provide an excellent opportunity to attract, to the North East, graduate students of the highest calibre, to demonstrate to them what the region has to offer in terms of career and lifestyle possibilities.

“The research projects transfer knowledge between the university and the participating businesses, as well as providing direct support to these businesses for the duration of the projects.

“The ability of businesses to introduce new products, processes and services will be a particular focus, thus addressing a major current constraint in many regional businesses.”

“Business-student-university interaction is one of the most efficient ways to achieve knowledge transfer and graduate retention.”

For more information visit www.northeaststidentships.com or www.nest.ac.uk